Glenn Phillips' 40-Ball 82* Lifts New Zealand to Record Home T20I Total Against India
Glenn Phillips hit an unbeaten 82 off 40 balls as New Zealand made 225 for 4 in the first T20I against India at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Thursday, October 22. It was New Zealand's highest T20I total at home. It was also their highest T20I total at Hagley Oval. India still chased it down with four wickets and two balls to spare.
Phillips hit 8 fours and 3 sixes. He reached his fifty in 27 balls, his 13th in T20Is. He used his feet against Axar Patel's spin and pulled anything that was short.
Finn Allen set the platform with 45 off 24 balls. Axar Patel removed him, and New Zealand were 80 for 2 in 7.4 overs. Tim Seifert made 24 and Daryl Mitchell made 28. Mitchell fell at 122 for 3 in the 13th over. Phillips then added 73 runs with Bevon Jacobs, who scored 31 off 16 balls before he was run out at 195 for 4.
New Zealand scored 65 runs in the powerplay, 93 in the middle overs and 67 in the last five overs. Phillips finished the innings in style. He played a reverse sweep for four off Bhuvneshwar Kumar on the last ball. The final over gave New Zealand 14 runs. Michael Bracewell was unbeaten on 7 at the other end.
Mayank Yadav took 1 for 40, Arshdeep Singh took 1 for 45 and Axar Patel took 1 for 51. Bhuvneshwar Kumar went for 49 in his four overs, with two no-balls and two wides. Nitish Kumar Reddy conceded 40 runs without a wicket.
Phillips spoke after the match and said credit had to go to India for the chase. He did not think the toss gave the chasing team a big edge. He felt New Zealand could have been tighter with the ball in the middle overs.
India chased down 226, the highest successful chase in their T20I history. Sanju Samson scored 67 off 33 balls and won the Player of the Match award. Phillips' knock went in a losing cause. The second T20I is on Saturday, October 24, at the same ground in Christchurch.